Senegal and Egypt meet in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2021) final on Sunday (8pm Nigeria time today), pitting two Liverpool stars up against one another.
Mohamed Salah is looking to lead the North Africans to a record-extending eighth continental triumph, while Reds team-mate Sadio Mane hopes to play a part in Senegal’s first-ever Nations Cup victory.
The Teranga Lions have lost both finals they have played, in 2002 and 2019, while Egypt are looking to lift the trophy for the first time since 2010.
While the spotlight will fall on two stars of the Premier League, the two sides have had contrasting paths to the final, which will be played in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.
Salah and Mane, both 29 and with over 100 goals in the English top-flight, helped Liverpool win the Champions League in 2018-19 and then end a 30-year wait for a league title a year later.
Egypt and Senegal had already been drawn to face each other in March in a two-legged play-off for a spot at the World Cup in Qatar, but continental silverware is at stake first.
Mane has scored three goals and set up another two in Senegal’s run despite suffering a concussion in a last-16 match with Cape Verde, while Salah has two goals and one assist.
“It’s great to play against Senegal as a team and also against Sadio,” Salah said.
“We will be rivals but afterwards we will be team-mates again.”
